Dna Tests Made Suspect `Sweat'

Prosecutors Weave Case In Teen-ager's Gruesome Murder

NEWPORT NEWS — In an interrogation room five hours after his arrest, murder suspect Walter Mickens Jr. remained cool under fire. The detective grilling Mickens couldn't even make him break a sweat.

Until he mentioned DNA, that is. When detective Dallas Mitchell told Mickens police had that kind of evidence, Mickens turned so wet with sweat the stuff was dripping off his face, Mitchell said.

Mitchell described Mickens' reaction while testifying in Newport News Circuit Court Tuesday morning. A couple of hours later, three DNA experts took the stand and detailed the genetic evidence against Mickens, a Newport News man charged with capital murder in the death of 17-year-old Timothy Jason Hall.

The experts turned the courtroom into a classroom, using overhead projectors and DNA models to show jurors what they learned by analyzing cells recovered from hairs, cigarette butts and a stained mattress. All the while, Mickens kept his eyes straight ahead, showing no emotion.

Hall's body, stabbed 143 times, was found March 30, 1992, on a blood-soaked mattress on the banks of the James River. Authorities say Mickens tried to sodomize Hall, who was naked from the waist down except for a pair of socks.

Miriam Vanty, a state-employed DNA analyst, testified that DNA extracted from sperm found on the mattress was consistent with Mickens' genetic material. Mickens is black, and only one in 6,000 blacks would have DNA of the type found on the mattress, Vanty said.

DNA, the material that determines what traits a person inherits, differs from person to person so scientists can use it as a basis for identification. The process is sometimes called DNA fingerprinting.

Two DNA experts from California examined cigarette butts discovered near the mattress and two loose hairs found on Hall's buttocks. The cigarettes and hairs didn't yield as much DNA as the semen, but scientists were still able to analyze it by reproducing, over and over again, what little there was.

Once again, the DNA was consistent with Mickens'. This time, though, the fraction that applied was just one-sixth, meaning one of six blacks would have the same type of DNA, said Dr. Edward Blake, who works at a private lab in Richmond, Calif. One of every nine whites would be a match, Blake said. Tests showed Hall was a match.

The experts said the DNA evidence showed Mickens could not be excluded as a suspect, but it did not prove he was the only person who could have left the DNA behind.

To go with the DNA evidence, prosecutors have been presenting strands of circumstantial evidence in hopes jurors will knit it all into a conviction. Mickens could get the death penalty if found guilty of capital murder.

Another witness who testified Tuesday was Tyrone Brister, a 19-year-old Louisiana man who said he talked to Mickens while both men were in a courthouse holding cell March 26. "What are you in here for? You seem like a pretty nice guy," Brister said he asked Mickens.

Mickens said police had accused him of stabbing somebody "140-something times," Brister said. In a whisper, Mickens added the words, "which I did," Brister said.

Mickens added the same words - "which I did" - after rattling off police allegations that he sodomized the victim and stole his tennis shoes, Brister said.

Brister said Mickens became suspicious after awhile and told Brister to change the subject. Afterward, Mickens asked Brister what he was in for.

Brister said he didn't want to admit he had been charged with trespassing and two other offenses that pale in comparison to murder. So he told Mickens, "I beat six cops up."

Mickens, 38, has also been charged with capital murder in the death of Jonathan Woskobunik, 19, who was found dead April 2, 1992. That case has not been set for trial yet.